That Was Then, This Is Now
by MagicalDuck
Summary: Tate with protective!Gibbs. An old friend from the past turns Kate's life upside down and suddenly she has to win a fight against the clock... for Tony's life.
1. Beginnings

That Was Then, This Is Now

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS and I'm not making money writing this story.

A/N: This story is much more complex than it seems in the beginning. Please be patient, this is just the beginning. 8D

Chandeliers were glittering overhead, almost like they were hovering there on their own, defying gravity. Graceful couples twirled around us and I had to admit that Tony and I did not seem out of place on the dance floor; even if we didn't get along anywhere else, dancing seemed to come easy for us.

Tony hadn't even tried to touch me anyplace he shouldn't although our cover us a married couple would have given him the perfect excuse. Of course he couldn't be nice and quiet for very long…

"Nice dress, Kate."

"If it wasn't you I'd just say 'thank you', but since it is… what's wrong with the dress?"

"Nothing's wrong with the dress! Do you have to be so suspicious? I was just trying to be nice."

I was pretty sure that he _did_ have a hidden agenda, but I decided to play along and be nice; it wouldn't do to blow our cover of the happily married couple so early in the evening.

"You're a good dancer," I praised when he turned me back in from some sort of pirouette. "You practised a lot?"

"Lots of practical experience, dear Kate," he replied, followed by one of his trademark DiNozzo smiles.

"Why did I even bother to ask?"

For a moment we were both quiet, just moving in time with the music and for the very first time I felt… it. It's hard to describe it really, hard to think about it, because I didn't _want_ it to be true then. I was starting to see Tony as a man and not only that, I was beginning to see him as a desirable man. Apart from the annoying grin he felt perfect in that moment; his body, warm and strong, was pressing against mine, making me sweat just a little more than necessary.

"Even if you probably won't like hearing this from me, Kate, you look beautiful." Tony's smile was different this time. It wasn't broad and mocking, no, it almost seemed genuine.

"I'll regret saying this, but thank you, Tony."

"Why would you regret saying that-"

But Tony never got further because in that moment the accumulation of all my worst nightmares, fears and neurotic phobias turned up: Denise Gettsburg, sex on legs and the only person I've ever truly hated (aside from Tony when he was reading my e-mails).

"Oh my GOD! Katie!" she squealed like we weren't women in our thirties and came… sauntering towards us.

"Stay in character, DiNozzo," I hissed. "You're my husband, not hers!"

"What's wrong with _you_, Katie?" he hissed back pointedly. "Besides, she's blown our cover anyway if she's a friend of yours."

"She's not! She's-"

"Katie!" Denise yanked me out of Tony's grasp, apparently trying to choke me with her stick-arms. "It's been years!"

"Yes, really too long. Sorry, you know how busy we girls all get with work and…"

It was all over like college again, Denise making me feel both guilty and horribly inadequate at the same time. But it was the fact that Tony was staring at her that was worse than anything else. Sure, I don't quite compare to the likes of her, but was that any reason for him to stare at her –admittedly- heartbreakingly beautiful face like that? And yeah, okay, her night-blue dress really did compliment her eyes and showed off her perfect body, but… yes, it was little Caitlin all over again. Little Caitlin before the wet t-shirt contest, that is.

It took all my willpower, but somehow I managed to tear my gaze away from Tony watching Denise and point at him. "May I present my-"

"I'm Anthony DiNozzo, Kate's husband," I heard Tony introduce himself and there was nothing in hell I could do about it.

I knew Gibbs would have my head if I blew our cover over something like that, but at the same time another part of me, the little Caitlin from years ago, just wanted to turn around and leave. Denise would find out that I wasn't really married to Tony sooner or later and she would, she most definitely would find a way to humiliate me – not out of spitefulness, but simple stupidity.

It would hurt, but I had no choice, though. I simply smiled and nodded.

"Yes… my husband. Tony. Um, may I present my ex-roomie, Denise Gettsburg?"

"Oh, it's not Gettsburg anymore! It's Klein now!" She extended her hand and for a moment I didn't understand. "Patrick and I got married last year, oh my God!" She squealed again and I felt myself pale. Apparently it did show because Tony's arm instantly wrapped around my waist, steadying me against the onslaught of emotions.

"Congratulations, Mrs Klein. Kate and I got married a little over two years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday…" He actually closed his eyes like he was thinking back to the day when I had –supposedly- agreed to do something idiotic like marry Tony DiNozzo.

"Really?" Denise seemed really pleased with the news and why wouldn't she be? She did have everything I had wanted – and more.

_Patrick…_

"Kate doesn't really feel very well right now, though. She's been ill and we only came here for the charity. We wanted donate our share. So, we'll see you soon, I hope."

I followed Tony's eyes discreetly; our target was on the move and we couldn't afford to stay behind. Even so, it was all I could do to follow Tony. His arm was still wrapped around my waist, supporting me as we slowly followed the target through the elegantly dressed people waiting to donate their hard-earned money for… I forgot what. Denise has that effect on people.

_Patrick…_

"You okay?" Tony helped me into my jacket and for a moment our charade almost felt real again, like it wasn't just a game that we were a happily married couple. Tony's hands were lightly resting on my shoulders now, gently massaging. "Kate? What's wrong? Wait, don't tell me! You girls used to… you know… and now she's married! That's it, right?"

"You're such an idiot." I rolled my eyes at him. "How many times do I have to explain that to you? A lesbian would never, ever consider sleeping with you!"

An elderly gentleman looked at us, bewildered at the exchange between an obviously heterosexual couple. I ignored him.

Tony followed me out of the building, carrying my hand bag for me. As we rounded the building, the cool night air, combined with the bickering, helped calm me down again. No, I wasn't little Katie anymore. That's what she'd always called me; Katie. No wonder I hated the nick name so much.

"Kate?"

I turned to face Tony. "Yeah?"

For a moment I thought he was going to say something I really didn't want to hear. There was this expression in Tony's eyes… But then he shook his head and pointed into a dimly lit alley.

"We can rule out this suspect, I think. We're looking for a homophobe, right? And this…"

I followed his eyes, sighing deeply. Gibbs would not like this, but… the homophobic suspect and the elderly man from before (no idea how he'd managed to get there before us) were making out like there was no tomorrow.

***

Naturally I wasn't in the best of moods on our way back, but at least Tony wasn't bothering me with his usual comments. Instead he was listening to one of his beloved bands who were only second to his movies. And his new car, that, too.

"God, I can't wait to get out of this dress," I finally broke the silence, just to distract myself from other thoughts.

Tony briefly looked over at me, shaking his head. "I told you, it looks great on you, Kate."

"It would've looked better on her."

Uh-oh.

I let that slip in front of Tony. I knew that I would never ever live that one down. Showing emotions to him was like letting a bulldog know you were afraid of it.

"Naw, she's not the right type of girl, excuse me, woman, for that type of dress. Besides, she's married to that guy, isn't she? She shouldn't be wearing dresses like this one anyway."

"What do you mean? Technically I'm supposed to be married to you, too! So what's wrong with the dress?"

"Nothing. Really, don't worry about it! Besides-"

A phone call interrupted Tony before I could find a good reason to elbow his side. Grudgingly I accepted the call, hoping it was important. I _hated_ letting Tony off this easily. "Hello?"

"Katie!"

I quickly held the cell away from my ear, fearing for my eardrums. "Hey, Denise…"

"Hey! I got your number from Tiffany! She didn't know you were married either! So you kept this quiet, Katie? That's just like you. Anyway, I thought we should all get together, just the girls and our husbands, to catch up on each other's lives. What do you think? Our place, next Saturday?"

To sum this up: we lost our prime suspect, I met my former arch nemesis and had to pretend to be happily married to Tony and all of this during one short evening. This was too much, even for the woman who had single-handedly protected the President on several occasions.

But I knew what my answer was going to be. "Sure, Denise…"

After a while she finally stopped babbling and reality sank in. I turned to Tony. He looked at me.

"Let me guess. This was Denise Klein calling to invite us for a party."

"That's creepy, Tony. You're becoming like Gibbs."

"True. So… if I agree to play your husband will you do something for me, Kate?"

I should have turned his offer down. I should have just cut off all my connections to my college friends and lived with the shame, but I couldn't. Denise couldn't do this to me anymore. I was beyond all of that now. I was not little Katie anymore, damnit!

"Fine. What do you want?"

"I want to know why you hate her."


	2. The Ring

"Hate her? Tony, please. She's just someone I know from college; no need to hate her."

I was keeping my eyes on the road ahead of us, watching the street lights and hoping that Tony would just let it be and not ask me any more questions I could not really answer.

I saw him shake his head out of the corner of my eye.

"Who's Patrick Klein?"

Another of these questions I could not possibly answer without thinking of things better forgotten.

"He's a guy I went out with. Denise decided she liked him, too, and he preferred her. Happy now?"

I expected him to react in some way, to either crack a joke or just laugh at me, but he didn't. Tony just kept staring ahead, drumming his fingernails on the leather of the steering wheel.

"All right," he finally said. "I'll go along with this, Kate."

"Thanks."

The rest of the ride passed in silence. I wished he would speak, do something, say something. It was not like Tony to be this quiet, but I didn't put it past him. It had been a long day and I was about ready to keel over. Gibbs would want our report, though, and I knew better than to even try and postpone that.

I was tired, but I still entered the squad room with a smile; I did not want anything about me to seem out of place. Gibbs wasn't behind his desk, but McGee and Abby were there, bent over a computer screen, their heads almost touching. I was not sure if they were actually working or not and at this point during the night I really did not care.

"McGee, where's Gibbs?" Tony asked from behind me. "We have…"

"I'm sure _my_ news are more important than yours!" Abby interrupted, hopping up and down excitedly. "You won't believe it! Our dead Petty Officer was-"

"Abby." Tony raised his hands, interrupting her, knowing she hated that. "Abby, whatever it is you've found, I'm sure Gibbs wants to hear about our news first."

"And why is that, Tony? Have you found a girl you couldn't resist at the ball or what?" Abby stuck out her tongue at Tony. "My news are-"

"Hopefully good."

Gibbs.

"Seriously, Gibbs. One day you're gonna give me a heart-attack if you keep doing that." Upon seeing Gibbs' expression Abby quickly grabbed the remote from McGee's desk to switch on the big plasma screen.

"Our dead Petty Officer is a homophobe!" she crowed triumphantly, showing us the image of Petty Officer Archer holding a poster saying 'Homos Hurt God'.

I felt my shoulders slump and it was all I could do not to scream. Not only was our supposedly homophobic prime-suspect gay, now we even knew that the motive behind the crime was completely different from what we had originally worked with.

"But… this is making no sense at all!" Tony protested. "We found out that Richardson is gay himself. And trust me, boss, a bald guy making out with an ancient Hobbit-sized man is the last thing I wanted to see tonight."

Gibbs never looked away from the screen, staring at Archer's frozen face. He had been a small, delicate man, his features almost effeminate. It had been so easy to believe that he was gay. Hell, there had been enough _proof_ to support the theory!

"So you mean to say that the guy's room wasn't stuffed with gay porn because he liked it but because-"

"He used the magazines to get addresses of gay men," McGee interrupted Tony. "He liked to mess with them, making them think he liked them. When he met them he usually brought a couple of his friends and they messed up the guy pretty badly. Abby and me found one of them who was willing to talk."

"Then why are you still here?" Gibbs glared at McGee.

"He's going to come in tomorrow morning. He's on his way now; he's from Las Vegas," McGee replied hastily.

"No stupid comments about Las Vegas now, Tony," I warned. "Gibbs, what if Richardson knew about Petty Officer Archer being homophobic and he decided to teach him a lesson?"

"Then why would he write 'Death To All Homos' in blood?" Tony rolled his eyes. "That wouldn't exactly help to make his point, would it?"

I flopped down behind my desk, resting my forehead against my palms. "You're right. It doesn't make any sense."

We continued our discussion for a little while longer, but eventually Gibbs let us return home. I tried my best to keep all thoughts of Denise and Patrick far away by working myself into oblivion. The only drawback was that the case wasn't exactly what any of us had expected and it was quite infuriating. Every lead, every trace we followed only led to dead ends. It almost seemed like the Petty Officer had just died for no reason at all.

A couple of days after our undercover mission Tony and I went out to have lunch together. That was what Tony had said at least. I got a little suspicious when we didn't go to our usual restaurant, but it wasn't until we stood in front of a window with wedding gowns that I truly felt my hackles rise.

"Tony… what exactly are we doing here?"

"Well, personally I would have preferred the school uniform shop across the street, but I guess Denise knows you better than to believe you got married in a mini."

He was interrupted by the arrival of a guy in a pink shirt with the biggest camera I'd ever seen in my life. He smiled at Tony and they hugged each other like old friends… or brothers. Hopefully this wasn't another fraternity thing or I'd have to go ballistic on both of them.

"Kate, this is Antoine, an old friend. He's gonna take our wedding pictures."

"What pictures? We aren't gonna get married, Tony."

"The party's in two days, Kate. What if anyone wants to see any photos? Women love photos of their weddings. A couple of my ex-girlfriends had them in their purses. That's why they're my exes, but that's not the point. The point is that we want to seem like a _real_ couple, right?"

I had to admit that he had a point. "Right, but we cannot possibly throw together a wedding during lunch break! And-"

But he just grabbed my hand and pulled me into the shop. Normally I would have protested, but the whole situation was just too bizarre for my brain to process.

Inside we were greeted by two girls in lavender dresses. They were surrounded by huge boxes of make-up and gigantic blow-dryers.

"Ladies, we have one our. Camella, Gaia, you up for it."

They eyed me like I was an insect, but finally the shorter one, who looked kind of mean, nodded. "It's not going to be easy, Tony. Not if we're going for the _real_ Italian look, but we can do it."

"Tony, what-"

Tony made a grand gesture, enclosing the whole room. "Kate, this should be every girl's dream. Why are you asking questions?"

I had to admit that he did have a point. Thousands of metres of flowing white silk and petticoats should have made me happy, should have made any girl happy. And in that moment I decided to let go of my suspicions and just let Tony have control over the situation for a while.

Tony smiled at me and gently pushed me into the direction of the girls.

"They're gonna take good care of you, Kate. Trust me."

I wanted to reply, but then Gaia cleared her throat. That was when he decided to take his leave. Well, I could fill whole novels with what happened during the next forty minutes, the point is when Camella and Gaia were done with me I was different. I had not seen my face yet since the girls stubbornly refused to let me have a look before they were finished, but they certainly _made_ me feel pretty.

Camella looked at Gaia. "I think…"

"… this is the best job we've ever done."

And then finally they held up the mirror to my face and for a moment the world ceased to exist. This has to sound horribly conceited, but I had never seen myself like this before. There was make-up on my face, but it was invisible. My eyes were larger and shinier, my lips sensual and plump, but their enhancements had been like an assassin's work; quick, painless and invisible.

That was when Tony turned up, dressed in one of his best black suits. I expected him to say something, but he just stood there staring. It wasn't one of the obnoxious DiNozzo stares either, no, it almost seemed like he truly admired what he saw.

And I had to admit that I liked seeing him like this, too. He looked stunning in his black suit; it was my favourite on him although I would have never admitted to actually having favourites when it came to Tony's wardrobe.

"All right," he murmured. "Shall we, Antoine?"

He took a couple of steps towards me and then the world ceased to exist a second time when he actually went down on one knee, like the princes in silly fairytales do, and grabbed my hand. He didn't say anything and I didn't try to pull my hand away, not even when he slipped a ring over my finger. No, not even then.

I knew it was all a game really and I knew I would probably pay for it, but in that moment it was perfect.


End file.
